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Clarke explains Miller omission – BBC Sport
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Clarke explains Miller omission – BBC Sport

After a scintillating run of form, which included captaining his club to the cup semi-finals aged just 18 yesterday, some spectators thought Lennon Miller could have earned his first Scotland call-up today.

He is certainly on Steve Clarke’s radar, but the Scotland head coach has explained his decision to allow the teenager to “grow up”, rather than being called up for upcoming matches against Croatia and Poland.

“It’s good for Lennon, it’s good for his club,” Clarke said. “He’s another kid that everyone wants to praise and push.

“It’s important to let young players grow. Let’s just give Lennon some space and time to grow.”

Clarke spoke similarly of 18-year-old Ben Doak not long ago before calling him up for the Euros – which he missed due to injury – and the League campaign des Nations, during which he won four caps.

“You want to have as many tough choices as possible, you want to have as many good players as possible, so the more young players the better for everyone in Scotland,” Clarke continued.

“It was already mentioned in one of the reports published recently that we are not producing enough young players, so I hope we will achieve that in the future.”

Instead, Miller will remain with the Scotland Under-19s during the international break, as they prepare for three home European Championship qualifiers against Wales, Liechtenstein and England. France.